Town Centre Park Master Plan

Town Centre Park is one of Coquitlam’s largest urban parks at 42 hectares (103 acres), developed to serve both the City Centre neighbourhood and act as a City-wide destination park while also drawing visitors from across the Tri-Cities area. Given the anticipated growth in the City and the opening of the Evergreen Line in 2017, renewing the vision and the overall development plan for this important park is a significant step to maintain the quality of outdoor offerings in the park. The final TCP Master Plan will provide a practical community based vision and guiding principles, illustrative conceptual plans for future improvements, and a phased construction strategy to implement developments to park over the next 15-20 years.

Project Start – Feb. 1, 2016

The City of Coquitlam is updating the Town Centre Park Master Plan (TCPMP) to ensure there is a comprehensive long-term plan to provide a framework for the park’s ongoing development, use and management over the next 15 to 20 years.

Since Town Centre Park’s development in the 1990s from a gravel pit to a premier City destination park, the existing Master Plan has guided the development and ongoing evolution of the park space and amenities. With Coquitlam's population projected to increase by approximately 90,000 in the next 30 years, along with the opening of Evergreen Line terminus station adjacent to the park, the number of Town Centre Park users is forecasted to substantially increase, putting additional demands on the park's amenities and supporting infrastructure, such as washrooms and parking.

The TCPMP update process will begin with developing the community’s vision of the future park, then the state of the current park and amenities will be assessed, and action items will be identified and prioritized. The project will include extensive public consultation.

Town Centre Park is one of Coquitlam’s largest urban parks at 42 hectares (103 acres), developed to serve both the City Centre neighbourhood and act as a City-wide destination park while also drawing visitors from across the Tri-Cities area.

For more information please refer to the report presented to Council on Feb. 1, 2016.

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Step 1: Analysis & Step 2: Guiding Principles – Jan. 2017

In January 2017, the preliminary consultant's report provided the results of the public consultation process which included the collection and review of over 400 completed surveys.

The report proposed a set of guiding principles based on the feedback: Place of Destination; Place of Connection; Place of Evolution; Place of Celebration.

Four action areas were also established: Rethink (opportunities to reinvent park areas); Improve (identify areas that are working well but might benefit from attention); Add (what additional amenities and activities the park should provide in future); and Relocate (move services that are no longer relevant to the core park uses).

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Step 3: Envision – April 2017

This phase of the Town Centre Park Master Plan focused on the development of a Draft Land Use Plan with proposed programming, site facilities, amenities and infrastructure that will be presented to the public for feedback.

These will be presented to the public for feedback in late May 2017 and then formalized into a final Concept Plan.

Some of the proposed Land Use Plan elements include potential new and upgraded restrooms and services, maintained and improved green spaces and lake loop trail, an enhanced park core for active recreation and play uses, potential improvements or upgrades to sport facilities, and improved social plazas and community event spaces, circulation, wayfinding, and entry gateways.

The vision for the park attempts to achieve a balance between the integration of historical and existing feel and character, focusing on both the natural and man-made assets valued by the community, as well as the continuing evolution of the park to reflect modern sensibilities and capture new and evolving opportunities as a timeless park for everyone.

The two final steps of the Town Centre Park Master Plan developed an updated TCP Land Use Plan and multi-phased implementation Strategy based on feedback from Council, public and staff to provide a blueprint for the long-term evolution of TCP to achieve the desired vision.

The development of the Land Use Plan defines and organizes various land use typologies for the future of the park and illustrates their spatial relationships and sizes within each Land use precinct. The Land Use Summary illustrates how the individual uses will come together to develop a cohesive vision of TCP for the next 20 years.

The development of an Implementation Strategy is the next step in this process and seeks to prioritize the different projects in the park, as well as establishing the total (high-level) funding needed to achieve the phased completion of the actions in the Land Use Plan for TCP over the next 20 years. It is recognized that the City of Coquitlam will continue to grow and evolve, so it will be necessary to be flexible and adapt to new opportunities and challenges that arise as part of the implementation. The recommended park improvements have been categorized into three time frames for implementation: Short-term Projects (2018 to 2022), Medium-term Projects (2023 to 2028) and Long-term Projects (2028-2037).

The next step will be to take the proposed adjustments made to the Land Use and Implementation Strategy and updated Town Centre Park Master Plan to Council to be presented for approval.

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Council Approval – March 5, 2018

The Town Centre Park Master Plan (TCPMP) and implementation strategy – the result of two years of planning and public consultation – will guide development of one of Coquitlam’s largest and busiest parks for the next 20 years. In addition to endorsing the plan, Council gave staff the go-ahead to start planning more than $5 million in improvements over the next five years, including amenities such as:

a new festival hub washroom;

larger festival lawn for events, picnicking, and informal use;

forest plantings and upgraded lake loop with new boardwalk, improved lakefront access with a lush and colourful Garden Walk on the east side of the lake; and

a new public washroom by the Evergreen Cultural Centre.

The Master Plan’s vision is to build upon the continued success of Town Centre Park as a premiere destination park that will evolve to serve the changing needs of the community by continuing to deliver opportunities for residents and visitors to recreate, connect and celebrate.

Parks and Recreation play an important role in any community’s social, emotional, and economic wellbeing. Town Centre Park is Coquitlam’s largest urban park at 42- hectare (103 acre) drawing in visitors from across the Tri-Cities area. The site has a long history and over the years, a variety of uses and development of the site has evolved to accommodate many needs and uses, both green and active.

Town Centre Park was originally a gravel quarry operated by Lafarge with the land being leased from the Province of BC (Town Centre Park Quarry Photo). Through cooperative and innovative thinking by Don Cunnings, Coquitlam’s first director of parks and leisure services, an agreement was reached by Lafarge, the Province of BC and the City of Coquitlam to have the quarry lands and the manmade lake donated to the City of Coquitlam once quarry operations ceased.

The transformation from resource recovery site to recreation and leisure facility took place gradually. What evolved was a first-rate recreation area to serve the fast-growing Coquitlam Town Centre. When Town Centre Park officially opened in May 1989, it was the newest and finest facility of its kind on the lower mainland (Town Centre Park Construction Photo). A prestigious NAIA District 1 track meet hosted by Simon Fraser University was the first event held at Town Centre Park stadium. One of the major features of the 100-acre development is its capability to host several types of sports events.

The successful acquisition of these lands in turn spurred the development of Coquitlam’s City Centre. The result generated a hub for activity as it became a more desirable area to live, work and play. The City Centre Mall was built, the City Hall was relocated from the historic hub-Maillardville, the City Centre Library was built, the RCMP detachment, Douglas College, the Evergreen Cultural Centre, the Chamber of Commerce, the Aquatic Centre, etc. In 2017 the Evergreen Line Skytrain will be completed and will end at Town Centre Park.

In 1995 a Town Centre Park Master Plan was developed to guide the future development of Town Centre Park (Town Centre Park 1995 Master Plan). This master plan has guided development that has resulted in a people-oriented park with amenities that support a variety of sports, outdoor recreational pursuits, passive and social areas, and cultural experiences.

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